During the Summer of 1985 while still in the paint business, I was contacted by an interior decorator, a former acquaintance, to do some remodel painting in a house in an exclusive Dallas neighborhood of multi-million dollar homes. She also informed me that she and her husband went to church with these people and were all a part of a Spirit-filled group in a prominent Dallas Protestant church. I soon became aware of what it was like to be associated with someone that I would determine to be a social charismatic. In other words it had become fashionable in these so-called circles to admit speaking in other tongues but not really endeavoring to walk in the ways of God, although they professed to do so. The man of the house was a Real Estate investor, who had inherited the successful business from his father and embellished it to greater heights before he even heard of the Holy Ghost. So therefore, I could determine he had gained his wealth by the multitude of sorceries as Revelation 18:23 tells us. The woman was a former Dallas Debutante from a wealthy Dallas family, a wondrous worker of flattery, moody, and a lying diviner, or in other words, a Jezebel. Just like Jezebel, this woman would use any avenue needed to include falsifying the circumstance even using the law to accomplish her desires. Now, don't you know that is the way a Spirit-filled person should operate? I think not unless the person is filled with the wrong spirit. The bible describes Jezebel as the wife of Ahab who controlled 850 false prophets in 1 Kings 18-21 and in Rev. 2:20, it states, "because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things offered unto idols.", and she definitely walked in witchcraft and sorcery. Therefore, I have determined from the word of God that any woman who operates like Jezebel is in the flesh and walks in witchcraft and sorcery. Further, any man who allows himself to be controlled by the woman is bound by witchcraft and sorcery.
As to the house, it was really a work of art and also an idol. It was over 8,000 sq. ft. with an entry floor and staircase to the second story made of real imported marble. All of the bathrooms had solid gold fixtures, and the master bedroom had cherubs painted on the 12 ft. concave ceiling which was patterned after the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel where Michaelangelo painted. There was also a cabana adjacent to the pool that was over 1000 sq. ft with solid marble floor, a white polar bearskin rug in front of a huge fireplace, and separate showers and hot tub for men and women complete with gold fixtures. I only presented a highlight description of the house to state how initially my heart was almost overwhelmed with fear that I could mess up something and spend the rest of my life paying for it. However, I soon got hold of my heart and realized that God gave me this job, and that it was just a house like any other house with a few more walls and trinkets to hang on them. HA! Needless to say, it was extravagant, and that's okay if God gives it. However, in this case it was literally a showcase (idolatry) as daily, people were touring through the house while I worked there for over three months.
I nearly got fired during the first week when I painted a small library in the front of the house, which could be seen from the street, what I would call "hot pink". The decorator had given me the color number off of a fan chart, which ended up as an older chart than mine. Therefore, it was the wrong color, and when the woman of house saw the room, I thought I was going to have to pray God would resurrect her. Fortunately, the problem was solved, and it was determined not to be my fault. Then the lady discovered that I was also in the ministry and in music. She in turn asked if I would lead her mid-week morning bible group in some worship songs. At first, I hesitated because my thought was that I came to this house to paint, not sing songs, particularly what I believed to be just another ladies-aid meeting of gossip. However, she was very persistent, as Jezebel would be, and I agreed reluctantly. The morning of the event came, and my voice came under severe attack so as I could hardly talk let alone sing. Now, I knew it was an attack of the devil coupled with my own doubt and unbelief, but I still did not realize it was evil spirits in this so-called spirit-filled lady that were against me. Well, I went into the meeting dressed in my paint clothes with my heart set on the Kingdom of God, and God was with me. As I opened my mouth and gave all that I could toward God, I sensed the anointing of God go forth from my heart, and I saw people physically moved by the presence of God. At the conclusion of my portion, little did I know that the best was yet to come. The woman of the house entered in all her pomp and pride and began to expound with flattering divination about me that she really did not know. I calmly thanked her and without even thinking out of my heart and mouth rose, "Jesus said to call no man good except the Father which is in heaven!" I excused myself and went back to work painting. Well, not only did I not receive her flattery, but also I had insulted and embarrassed her in front of her society friends, which actually was God that had spoken out of my heart. When I left the room, immediately I had an excruciating headache and was sick to my stomach. I began to pray, and God revealed to me to resist witchcraft and sorcery and to bless the woman of the house. I wasn't making much progress painting because of the splitting pain in my head, blurred vision, dizziness, and upset stomach, but I continued to work as I prayed and refused to quit. After over an hour of resisting the evil spirits in that house, I finally began to overcome and feel better. By the end of the day, all the symptoms were totally gone, but my flattered relationship with the woman of the house had been shattered. She tried for many weeks following to find something wrong with my work so she could get rid of me with no success. You see, no man can stay the hand of God if He is with you. In fact by now, they had replaced my designer friend with an artistic stage design builder, and he even tried to blame me for different circumstances to no avail until God had caused me to overcome. Finally with what types of procedures they were asking me to paint, I spoke to God and said, "Lord, I am thankful for this job, but these people need an artist, not a painter. Besides, you know that the stage designer is ripping(stealing) these people off!" The next thing I know is I am instructed to paint something a certain way, which I did, and then I was informed because I could not do what I was told that my services were no longer needed. I remind you here how that Jesus was falsely accused in Matthew 24, but he held his peace, did not try to refute the charges, and only spoke the truth of Gospel. My flesh wanted to defend my actions, but my spirit knew to accept the outcome knowing I had done right. In fact I went to the office of the man of the house to personally see him and receive my final check, and I wanted to tell him the artistic designer they hired was taking advantage of them. Well, God said, "Leave it alone and give thanks!" So I told the man thank you, took my check, gave God thanks, and left with the knowledge that God caused me to overcome and learn many spiritual things while getting paid very well on top of it. You see, I had overcome fear of rich people, their idolatrous house, witchcraft and sorcery in the house, and false accusations, and I had experienced first hand people who gave lip service to God, but in works they denied him and were complete hypocrites. Boy, what a job, but it was worth all of it! Praise the Lord!
E-mail at terrym@terrymai.com
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In June, 1978 for the first time that I knew, I came in contact with ,what I would call, a phenomenal experience with the power of God. I had been dating Kathy for about six weeks, and her dad, Doyle Davidson, had been grilling me pretty good about my life's intent and about God working through the gospel in our lives. Finally, the day of decision came, and Doyle asked me if I would like to receive the Holy Ghost. Well, it had been determined that I had been born again when I was thirteen years old, but I was like the Ephesians in Acts 19. I had not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost, especially(I might add) I had not heard of the speaking in other tongues, which is the evidence of receiving the Holy Ghost. By now, even though it may have been after the flesh, I had come to trust what Doyle had been sharing with me, and after minimal instruction about the gift of the Holy Spirit and with slight apprehension, I agreed to receive the Holy Spirit, not really positive of what that meant. However, I could see in scripture in Acts 2, Acts 10, Acts 19, and Luke 11:9-13 that it is exactly what God intends for all those who follow Him. Little did I know, however, what was about to happen. I was sitting on Doyle's couch in his den with others in the room who were there for the weekly Bible study, and Doyle said, "Okay, just relax. I'm going to pray, and the Holy Spirit is going to fill you to overflowing, and out your belly shall flow rivers of living water!(Jn 7:38)" Well, I knew he meant other tongues, and I thought, "This will have to be a miracle!" As Doyle began to pray, I closed my eyes, and almost immediately, it was like a vision, and I was standing outside. With my eyes shut, I pressed my eyes tighter to see if I was hallucinating, and no, I was not on any drugs. I was amazed to see the most beautiful blue sky that I had ever seen. In the middle of the sky was a huge white puffy cloud with the sun shooting its rays in all directions from behind the cloud. All of a sudden, the puffy white cloud parted, and the bright sunlight nearly blinded me as I squinted my eyes from the sun. Remember, this was a vision, but at the moment it was as real as anything I had ever experienced. Soon, I could make out a black dot coming out of the sun, and as it came closer, I could see it was a bird, and then, specifically, as it came closer, I realized it was a white dove. Suddenly, I thought, "This dove is flying right at me, and it's going to hit me!" I literally felt myself ducking to avoid being hit by the dove, but thank God, he did not miss! I absolutely felt the dove land on the top of my head. When that happened, it was as though someone cracked a raw egg on my head, and warmth literally ran from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. At that moment, I spoke several words that I recognized as Latin from years of phonetic foreign language study in my musical studies in college, but I really did not know nor consider what I had just spoken. Later, I realized that I had spoken by the Holy Spirit in Latin, "Father, deliver me and sanctify me by your Holy Spirit!" I had received the Holy Ghost!
This is not all, however. Initially, I did not tell anyone about the vision, and for the next two weeks, I was tormented day and night(I now know it was the devil) that I did not get the Holy Ghost, it was just a phenomenon, it was just a religious experience, it was just a hallucination, and with my own skeptical, ignorant, unbelieving heart, it did not help. Then, I began to grasp the realization of the experience, and I cried out to God to prove to me this experience was true. By now, I had begun to read the Bible, which I had never done before even though that I had grown up in church. At the end of that two week period, I read in Matthew 3:16, And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him. It was as though the words were magnified in 3-D and stood up on the page, and I was astonished to realize that I had received the Holy Ghost and God did it for me just like He did Jesus! In fact, I got so excited that I yelled at the devil, "Don't ever tell me I didn't get the Holy Ghost, because I experienced it just like it says right here in the Bible!" At that point, my tongue, which had been somewhat bound the previous two weeks because of the unbelief, was loosed, and I began to praise God freely in other tongues, and I have continued to do so for nearly twenty-two years! Praise God! I later read of the same account of Jesus' experience in Mark 1:10, Luke 3:21-22, and John 1:32-33. Obviously, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is important to God to be listed in all four of the books about Jesus' life, and that makes it important in all of our lives too. I know the Holy Ghost is not a dove, but in this instance, the Holy Spirit came upon me in the bodily shape of a dove just as Luke's account states about Jesus. No, I'm not special to have been baptized like Jesus received the Holy Ghost, but it was because of my skepticism and unbelief, and besides, God knew that I would testify of the event to all of you so it would encourage you to believe in the power of God unto salvation through the Gospel! Jesus said in Mark 16 that if we believe the Gospel, one of the signs to those that believe is to speak with new tongues. So the gift of the Holy Ghost is a must to all who believe the Gospel, and we have the privilege to speak with new tongues because we believe! God bless you all!
E-mail at terrym@terrymai.com
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Our middle daughter, Ashley, was born in December of
l986. Kathy and I were rejoicing at the ease of everything with this particular
pregnancy. Kathy had spent hours reading the psalms before Ash was born and had her
heart prepared for Ashley to appear into this world. I was teaching a group of
people in Denton, Texas at the time, and we would meet on Sunday mornings, and Wednesday
evenings. As we were getting ready to leave for this particular Wednesday
evening service, Kathy informed me she believed it was about time for Ashley to arrive.
I said , "Then we had better check with the doctor on call."
They told us to come by on our way, and sure enough, they confirmed what she already
knew. I called Doyle, and he said, "I'll take care of Denton!"
Ashley was born around 10:00 PM. Everything was great, and I accompanied Ashley to
the nursery. After a complete visual examination, the nurse in there said,
"There is only one thing wrong with this baby!" I said, "What's
that?!" She said, "She's perfect!" Well, by the next evening,
the devil had made his move.
Our pediatrician came and informed us that Ashley had, what they
had called, jaundice, but it was a spirit that came against our home. I reluctantly
left Kathy that night and went home, and frankly, both of us were a little dismayed.
However, I knew I needed to get out of there and pray! She also began to read the
psalms out loud. Though we hadn't requested a private room, the Lord knew what
was ahead and mercifully gave her a room alone. She prayed the psalms until her head
would no longer stay up, and finally, she went to sleep. Even though things
did not look promising, I knew now was not the time to be weak but fight with everything
in me against this attack! The next morning, there was no change. They
informed us that they wanted Kathy to go home and leave Ashley there. Although not
feeling like it, I knew I had to be strong because I knew Kathy's heart was about to
break, and we continued to pray. The Lord began to minister to her about Moses'
mother, and how she put him on the water and committed him to the Father. We knew
God was saying, "she is mine, put her in the basket, put her on the water, and trust
me." We left the hospital with no baby, and our hearts were rending.
We had already planned to have the people from the Denton Church
over that evening. So we went home and prepared dinner as we had planned.
Kathy and I had invited Doyle and Patti over also, and as we were talking, the lord
revealed to Doyle that the spirit was coming from people's tongues. James 4:6-10
talks about our tongues being set on fire from hell, full of deadly poison, therewith we
bless God and curse men, etc. Needless to say, we began to bless people and kept on
praying. Blood tests on Ashley would go down as we would pray and we would be
encouraged that we were overcoming. Then as we would relax, the blood count would go
up. It was like a roller coaster. God revealed to me in Joshua about the
battle of Ai where the Jews' enemies prevailed because of sin in the camp. Joshua
dealt with the sin in the camp, stretched his spear toward Ai, and the Jews
prevailed. That is what was going on with Ashley's blood test. We would see
the thing turn around, our soul would relax, and then the blood count would change.
We saw that we needed to hold fast and not to relax, but continue to believe until the
battle was completely won.
We were going into the hospital on that Saturday to see
Ashley. They had her in an incubator with all kinds of things attached to her.
Our emotions were running wild, and we knew that we had to get hold of ourselves. We
went back by the church to let Doyle know what was happening, and he said, "Come on
up to the house. I will follow you in my car." We were sitting at a stop
light, and I will never forget this as long as I live. Kathy began to laugh, and I
asked, "What's going on?" Kathy had seen a vision of a man standing right
beside Ashley. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, and one leg
crossed over the other. He stood there totally calm and unconcerned. We knew
in our heart that God's angel had charge over Ashley. I jumped out of our car, ran
back to Doyle, and told him what Kathy had seen. I know the people around probably
thought we were nuts, but frankly, who cares when you are overcoming!!!
Things began to turn around in the spirit. Kathy and I had
telephone duty that night on our prayer line at the church. We began to talk
afterwards with Doyle and could tell we were overcoming the spirit. Kathy
said, "I'm ready to get my baby out of that hospital." We called to find
out where the pediatrician was to no avail and concluded it was not the right time.
God was not quite done with our hearts. The next morning I was speaking to
the people in Denton, and God had me speak on "Faith". Needless to say,
God was talking to me, and as I was speaking, the Spirit of God rose up and began to set
me free of unbelief and strengthen me. I exclaimed to the people, "I have got
to go and get my baby!" I literally felt like a roaring lion, and I knew it was
the power of God in me! We closed the service and headed back to Plano where we knew
Doyle was eating lunch. He had encouraged and believed with us through this whole
thing. Doyle asked me where we were headed, and I told him. He said, "Go
on! I will be there when I'm done." Kathy and I went to the hospital, and
it just so happened our pediatrician was off. Ha! God had gone before us and
had it all arranged. It just so happened he was a personal friend of Kathy and a
little too close to the situation. I made my firm request to the doctor on call, and
actually, he was somewhat overwhelmed. Of course, we know most people are when it
the power of God! He hesitantly replied, "I'll have to take another blood
test.", and I responded, "No problem! I'll be waiting right here!"
They took another blood test, and the doctor returned to report, "I guess I
will have to let her go". I said, "I guess you will." When we
left the hospital that day, we knew that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had
intervened in our lives. To the eyes, Ashley was still as yellow as a canary, but we
knew in our hearts that spirit had bowed it's knees. We had agreed to take her back
on Tuesday for one more blood test, and the Lord had us share with our friend, the
pediatrician, who was a religious Sunday School teacher and student of the Bible, what had
taken place. It was more overcoming of religious spirits, which is what Jesus
constantly dealt with in His life. After that time, Ashley's coloring began to
return to normal, and she has been a healthy child ever since. Oh yes, we have had
attacks, but we've overcome the attacks by believing Jesus died, was buried, and rose
again, reading the word of God out loud, and oh yes, worshipping God. You say,
"You really believe worship will help, don't you?" You better know that is
how we have overcome lots of things in our lives, in my children's lives, and even in our
dogs' lives. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.(Heb.13:8)
His power has not diminished or left this earth. Romans 1:16 tells us the gospel is
the power of God unto salvation unto all that believeth. So let's believe.!!!
E-mail at terrym@terrymai.com
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When Candace was about 10 years old, we realized something needed to be done about her teeth as many of them were not aligned properly, and in particular, a center front tooth would not come through. The dentist advised Kathy and I that Candace go to an orthodontist, and he recommended braces. Although we were not pleased with the alternative, we reluctantly agreed, but we continued to pray and believe that God would show us a better way. During the process, she was not only fitted with braces, but another apparatus was installed to help expand the teeth to create more space in her mouth. This required adjustment periodically, and on three separate occasions God led me to pray to move her mouth without the use of the equipment in her mouth. Each time by the next morning, she would come to me because the apparatus in her mouth needed adjustment as a result of movement in her mouth by the power of God! Needless to say, it was a great encouragement that God would move her mouth beyond what the equipment could do. Then on one of the regular visits, the orthodontist informed Kathy that Candace's front tooth in question needed to be exposed by oral surgery in a process to get it to lower into it's proper position. She asked how long did we have until it would be scheduled, and he stated about two weeks. They came home to inform me of the situation, and although my heart wanted to faint, I knew that would do no good. So I expressed, "Thank God! That gives us two weeks to see God deliver her by His power!" He had moved her mouth before and I knew He could do it again! We continued to pray and seek God to move for the next 10 days with no visible success. Finally, about three days before Candace's next appointment, we were eating in a restaurant and saw our family dentist. After we left, I was prompted by the Spirit of God to break the curse over Candace's mouth and anything spoken over her by that dentist. Within a matter of hours, her tooth, which was three years late, began to come through, and 48 hours later at her next appointment, the tooth had come in nearly 25%. The orthodontist was astounded and couldn't believe it. I should say at this point that he was a professing Christian. A short time later, it came time to go on with the process, which is called the second phase, and God showed us that she did not need to continue. Although the orthodontist did not agree, he asked if he could use Candace's case as demonstration of his work on his lecture circuit. Here is where God had me share with him how God's power had moved in her mouth over the period of time, in particular, the front tooth that had fully come through into it's proper position. Therefore, I continued, if he would be willing to give God the credit for the work that was miraculously done in her mouth, we would give him permission to use her case. Needless to say, he didn't want to do that, which is not uncommon for many so-called professing Christians, who as Paul says, "give lip service to God, but in works they deny Him." We continue to give God thanks for His power that works in us daily! Praise God!
E-mail at terrym@terrymai.com
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Two weeks ago, Kathy and I were driving to Russell, Kansas to see my parents. We were praying and all of a sudden, there was an eagle soaring down in front of my Tahoe. Kathy exclaimed, "Do you see that?!" I replied, "Yes!" Not only was this eagle soaring in front of us, but he was headed straight into a 30-35 mph wind, as if it was nothing. I was struggling just to keep the vehicle on the road because the wind was so strong. We agreed that God was encouraging us as we were quickened to Isaiah 40 . I trust this will minister and strengthen you in your inner man as it did Kathy and me.
27Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
28Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 50 talks about how the Lord God will speak a word to the weary in due season. Obviously, he did as it was a long trip over a short period of time with much to do and no time for rest, which, as it turned out, we didn't need! It was great! Thank God for his mercy and grace upon us.
God bless you - Terry
E-mail at terrym@terrymai.com
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Recently, the Lord was ministering to me about giving thanks, and I shared in Frisco that night from several scriptures but particularly 1 Thessolonians 5:16-18.
16Rejoice evermore.
17Pray without ceasing.
18In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
I always appreciate that the Lord will encourage and inform you of what you need before you need it. I remember sharing that it is real easy to give thanks when every thing is going well. However, it is more difficult to give thanks in the midst of adversity and tribulation. I didn't know at the time that I was going to put the word God was speaking to work so soon! I awakened about six the next morning with a familiar pain, and knew that I needed to overcome rapidly. I was reminded about what the Lord had been saying to me the previous day. I began humbling myself to make sure there was not something that had opened up the devil to attack me like this. I proceeded with my normal activities in the morning, because I knew better than to sit or lay down and let this spirit take me over. I took Rachel to school and returned home to get ready for work. I was praying, and I walked by Kathy and she said, "Are you alright?" I told her what was going on and that I had been resisting the devil. We began to join our faith, resisting the devil, binding the power and authority of the Jezebel, and blessing people. Within a matter of minutes I had pushed off that spirit. I got up, went to work, and have been continuing to give God thanks ever since. Praise The Lord!
E-mail at terrym@terrymai.com
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